We really enjoyed our time in the beautiful city of Barcelona. Barcelona is well known for its beautiful architecture highly influenced by the famous architect Goudi. Many buildings façades have unique designs, artistic, with movement, colour, sculptures, and mosaic tiling. I was excited that this is where we would be spending Halloween because it is known for its Gothic Quarter with some of the buildings facades having a very creepy feeling. The kids were very curious about what Halloween would be like in Spain, they were missing their friends at home and their usual Halloween traditions. On Halloween night, we took to the streets, throughout the laneway near where we were staying in the old city, the young children and their parents were dressed up and trick-or-treating at the local stores. After our enjoyable walk around getting a feeling for the celebrations, we spent the evening as a family watching a Halloween movie while the kids gorged on treats. Messages and pictures from friends with Halloween costumes were greatly appreciated. We enjoyed many walks around the old city and enjoyed sampling different tapas. Sophie and I attended a flamenco dance show. We were both glad we went for the experience. The dances were talented and the guitarist was amazing particular his solo. We both agree we prefer Salsa.
Unfortunately, I was not as up on planning as I should have been. We were too late to book tickets to visit the inside of the Sagrada Familia, Goudie’s, masterpiece that is still in construction (design started in 1852). Only seeing the outside was striking enough!
We were grateful to visit the house, Cassa Batllo’. When Gaudi was commissioned to build this beautiful house, the owner had given him free range for all his creative thinking and unique engineering. The house displayed amazing architecture and inventive solutions to light, ventilation, structural support and drainage. It has an underwater theme throughout the entire house. As you move from room to room, colours change, to work with the lighting and window placement. The walls were lightly textured, and all had the pattern of a turtle back, but painted in different hues to capture amazing light. The houses’ woodwork is amazing, beautiful wood, carved in a very fluid, that adds strength and character to all of the rooms. The ceilings, lighting, and stairs added so much to the immersive experience. There was also stain glass, strategically placed in some of the windows. We all felt it makes modern building seem boring.
While we were in Barcelona, Spain was hit with the devastating rainstorm leading to huge floods in the Valencia province with at least 200 dead or missing. We had one day with immense rainstorm that came on very abruptly and I was caught while out getting lunch supplies and immediately took shelter in a coffee shop. There was no flooding in Barcelona or the rest of the country, yet another warning of the dangers related to climate change.